All preceded by a 5:00 a.m. alarm, a shit/shower/shave, a dog walk,a lunch made, a bus ride, a stroll to the building (arriving, usually by7:00/7:15 a.m.) and preparing for the day, the

Deluge of at least 100 adolescents and 20/30/40 fellow teachers…Ready to steam through 7 to 8 hours of organized chaos,entropic, careening bodies . . . the chorus of hallway chatter and the bustleof banging lockers, the wending a way to the next class . . .

And the days (often) flew by, the seasonal ebb and flow, the “Spring Training”of autumnal rhythm, the incipient Winter and its holidays, the slog through Februaryand the always-grim March, with some hope that April will (eventually) arrive.

Taking care of “other people’s children” for a lifetime….enjoying it, indeed,Loving it --- loving those kids, year after year…..And now, five years removed (FIVE YEARS?), it’s so hard, rolling out of bedat 8:00 a.m., to recall all those 5 a.m. wake-ups, all that morning ritual and travel,all those people every day . . . Almost like a dream . . .